In a bid to improve quality of education, premier Utkal University will come up with six centres of excellence in its campus next year. It will be set up with the help of a grant approved by the Centre under its Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA) scheme.
These are- Centre for Public Policy and Governance, Centre for North East India study, Centre for Informal Labour, Centre for Environment, Climate Change and Public Health, Global Centre for Rural Engagement, Centre for Study of Language, Literature and Culture.
Centre for Public Policy and Governance will conduct in-depth critical study of public policy in order to make it strong and effective. It will also carry out training and capacity building programmes on management issues related to local level governance and decentralized planning.
Centre for North East India study will undertake programmes to create a better research-based understanding of the ethos, challenges and opportunities in the north-eastern states. It will nurture, strengthen, celebrate and leverage the immense talent of the students of the region by providing them a forum for expression and innovation.
Centre for Informal Labour will conduct research on unorganized labourers and their settlement and rehabilitation. It will also train people to help the unorganized labourers to eke out a living.
Centre for Environment, Climate Change and Public Health will undertake study on climate change, sustainable approach to environment and best practices to keep the environment clean and green. It will also carry out research on public health.
Global Centre for Rural Engagement will hold comparative study of best practices and innovative ideas of different countries used for development of their villages. “It will provide knowledge and help to prepare model for development of Indian villages. The Centre acquires a special meaning when the country is celebrating 150th year of Mahatma Gandhi who says soul of India lies in villages,” said Soumendra Mohan Patnaik, vice chancellor of the university.
Centre for Study of Language, Literature and Culture will explore the interface between literature and language, literature and culture and the creative genres like music, art and heritage.
“All these centres are designed to be pitched on an inter-disciplinary platform which will create cutting-edge research beyond the disciplinary boundary. PhD and post-doctoral scholars will conduct these studies. These centres will come up at the new academic building proposed by the university recently,” he added.
Besides, it will strengthen two existing departments-Chemistry and Physics- to undertake advanced study and research.
Courtesy: TOI